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A teenage shooting incident, fueled by jealousy, could have ended Van Dorn Tappan’s baseball career before it started. But the young man beat a charge of second-degree murder, freeing him to pursue a journey that included a brief stint as a slick-fielding, light-hitting infielder with the 1914 Kansas City Packers of the Federal League. After […]

Two rookies made their major league debuts for the Providence Grays at St. Louis’s Union Grounds on September 18, 1885. One of them, 19-year-old third baseman Denny Lyons, went on to compile a .310 batting average in 1,121 games over 13 seasons. The other, a 27-year-old southpaw named John Foley, pitched a complete game that […]

On October 28, 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals prepared to play Game Seven of the World Series against the Texas Rangers at Busch Stadium. The organization asked Whitey Herzog, the manager of the last Cardinals team to play a World Series Game Seven at home, to throw the ceremonial first pitch. He had fallen ill, […]

“Me a pop-off? Aw, that’s bunk.” — Mickey Harris, Boston Post, May 20, 1941 Mickey Harris is well known for an impressive amount of self-confidence and for posting a 17-9 record as one of the key components of the starting staff that carried the 1946 Boston Red Sox to their World Series showdown with the […]

Bedrock (n): Unbroken solid rock; any firm foundation.1 That dictionary definition explains why “Bedrock” was an apt nickname for Steve Bedrosian. In his prime, he was a rock-solid relief pitcher and the foundation on which his teams built a bullpen. Stephen Wayne Bedrosian was born in Methuen, Massachusetts, on December 6, 1957, to Michael (a […]

“At 22 Cedeño is as good or better than Willie was at the same age. I don’t know whether he can keep this up for 20 years, and I’m not saying he will be better than Mays. No way anybody can be better than Mays. But I will say this kid has a chance to […]

Ryan Lavarnway probably had more than 1,000 teammates across 27 teams during his 16 seasons in professional baseball. Primarily a catcher with seven games at first base and 28 as a designated hitter, he played for eight different major-league teams and has one World Series ring, from his time with the Boston Red Sox in […]

Sam Nahem was a so-so pitcher who logged a 10–8 won-loss record and a 4.69 ERA in four partial seasons with the Dodgers, Cardinals, and Phillies between 1938 and 1948. Despite this unremarkable record, Nahem was a remarkable major leaguer in many ways. He was the only Syrian and one of the few Jews in […]

Indians fans in Cleveland awoke the morning of May 23, 1957, to the musings of columnist James E. Doyle of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Doyle often wrote a small poem at the beginning of his column, and this spring day was no exception. Soxcess with Cal “That stuff served up by Cal McLish,” The Red […]

It is often said that no matter how many times a person may go to the ballpark, chances are good they might see something occur that they had not seen before. That experience is even more enhanced if the achievement or the play is of the record-setting variety. The 26,884 patrons who pushed through the […]

Jeff Gray1 pitched four years for collegiate baseball power Florida State University, followed by eight years of professional baseball, including parts of one season with the Cincinnati Reds and two with the Boston Red Sox. Gray’s admirable playing career was cruelly shortened at age 29 in 1991, when he suffered a stroke-like brain injury. Despite […]

In the foreword to Chuck Hinton’s autobiography, My Time at Bat, Sam Lacy said of Hinton, “He is a family man – one who does his baseball thing as a sideline.”1 Hinton’s devotion to family grew from the large and close-knit one into which he was born, but his life and that of his brothers […]

Forever poetically linked to Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers by F. P. Adams’ “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon,” Frank Chance made his mark as the Cubs’ player-manager from 1905 through 1912 as part of the “Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance” double play infield. Although not widely regarded as one of the game’s greatest fielders, Chance holds a special place in the […]

Nino Espinosa was a right-handed pitcher with good control whose career ended prematurely because of a shoulder injury. After that, he became a scout in his native Dominican Republic until his tragic death from a heart attack at age 34. Arnulfo Acevedo Espinosa was born on August 15, 1953, in Villa Altagracia, about 30 miles […]

George Lee “Sparky” Anderson was one of the great baseball men of all time in terms of success, integrity, and personality. He led the Cincinnati Reds to back-to-back championships in 1975 and 1976, and the Detroit Tigers to a World Series title in 1984, becoming the first manager to win the World Series in both […]

With high-school graduation behind them, it was time for the Cates twins to decide upon a career course. Neither wanted the stable but strenuous future of life on the Cates family farm. For Levi, a painter’s job at the local cement factory beckoned. This is the bio of Eli, the brother who chose to pursue […]

Norris O’Neill, one of three nineteenth-century baseball figures nicknamed Tip, made a name for himself on the West Coast, where he captained the Oakland squad for several years. He played and/or managed in the minors from 1885 to 1899. In his youth, O’Neill was an acclaimed catcher, but after turning pro he tired of the […]

Bob Watson of the Houston Astros touches home plate to score what was widely reported as the 1 millionth run in Major League Baseball history on May 4, 1975. (COURTESY OF THE HOUSTON ASTROS)   Like many youngsters growing up in urban America in the 1950s, Bob Watson’s first at bat was in a game […]

There was baseball in Marlan Coughtry’s family. “My dad began throwing baseballs at me as soon as I could walk,” he said. “My uncle, Ray Coughtry, had played in the Cardinal chain; my dad wants me to rise even higher.”1 Perry Coughtry was Marlan’s father. A native Californian, Perry worked as a checker for a […]

With a fourth-grade education from the Marshall Street school in San Antonio, Jake Volz did his family proud. Born in the city of San Antonio on April 4, 1878 to parents who had immigrated from Germany a little over 10 years earlier, Jacob Phillip Volz took up baseball as a youth and broke in professionally […]

About 3,000 spectators filled the Union Grounds1 in St. Louis to watch the last game in a three-game National League series between New York Giants and St. Louis Maroons. The Giants had won the first two games, played on May 21 and 22, outscoring the home team by a combined 13-4. Since May 23 fell […]

Like most forces of nature, Paul Lo Duca’s twin eruptions in June 2007 were remarkable for both their spontaneity and the havoc they left behind. Frustrated with his team’s recent struggles and what he considered undue expectations from the press, on June 23 the New York Mets catcher littered the diamond with his equipment after […]

In the first half of the 1970s, the Boston Red Sox had a pipeline of talent coming to the big-league club from the minors. Carlton Fisk solidified the catcher’s position in 1972, winning the American League Rookie of the Year award. In 1973 Dwight Evans became the everyday right fielder, and while his bat was […]

Over its first five decades, the Kansas City Royals have had only three ownership regimes. Pharmaceutical entrepreneur Ewing Kauffman landed the Royals expansion franchise for the 1969 season and believed that the team could and should be competitive in a previously unprecedented time frame. He was willing to innovate and spend to boost the Royals […]